Molecular sieve materials, both natural and synthetic, have been demonstrated in the past to be useful as adsorbents and to have catalytic properties for various types of organic conversion reactions. Certain molecular sieves, such as zeolites, aluminophosphates, and mesoporous materials, are ordered, porous crystalline materials having a definite crystalline structure as determined by X-ray diffraction. Within the crystalline molecular sieve material there are a large number of cavities which may be interconnected by a number of channels or pores. These cavities and pores are uniform in size within a specific molecular sieve material. Because the dimensions of these pores are such as to accept for adsorption molecules of certain dimensions while rejecting those of larger dimensions, these materials have come to be known as “molecular sieves” and are utilized in a variety of industrial processes.
Although many different crystalline molecular sieves have been discovered, there is a continuing need for new molecular sieves with desirable properties for gas separation and drying, organic conversion reactions, and other applications. New molecular sieves can contain novel internal pore architectures, providing enhanced selectivities in these processes.
Molecular sieves are classified by the Structure Commission of the International Zeolite Association according to the rules of the IUPAC Commission on Zeolite Nomenclature. According to this classification, framework type zeolites and other crystalline microporous molecular sieves, for which a structure has been established, are assigned a three letter code and are described in the “Atlas of Zeolite Framework Types,” Sixth Revised Edition, Elsevier, 2007.
Molecular sieves may be ordered or disordered. Ordered molecular sieves are built from structurally invariant building units, called Period Building Units (PerBUs), and are periodically ordered in three dimensions. Crystal structures built from PerBUs are called end-member structures if periodic ordering is achieved in all three dimensions. Disordered structures, on the other hand, show periodic ordering in less than three dimensions. One such disordered structure is a disordered planar intergrowth in which the building units from more than one framework type are present. Such intergrowths frequently have significantly different catalytic properties from their end members. For example, zeolite ZSM-34 is well known intergrowth of ERI and OFF framework types and exhibits a methanol-to-olefins performance superior to that of its individual component materials.
Disclosed herein is a unique disordered aluminosilicate molecular sieve designated SSZ-105 which comprises at least one intergrown phase of an ERI framework type molecular sieve and an LEV framework type molecular sieve.